As the Republican hit the town halls in South Carolina, a state with a major military presence and one of the country's highest unemployment rates, Graham would ask people if they thought climate change was a problem.

Few did.

But Graham quickly followed with another question, asking for a show of hands from those concerned about energy security. The response was strong, and Graham wasted little time making the connection.

"You can't look at it in isolation," Graham said in an interview last week. "I'm trying to say, OK, you're skeptical about global warming, you're worried about the compliance costs, and you think maybe there's not much benefit to the environment. I'm not there, but I respect that.

"What if I took something you agree with, that this country had a lot of resources that need to be explored and extracted, and every barrel of oil that we can find off South Carolina with South Carolina's permission, and natural gas deposits, make us more energy independent?" he added. "What if you married those two things up? And took some of the revenue from oil and gas exploration and put it toward reducing our carbon dependency? I think that's a deal that a lot of people would go for. You don't have to be a true believer of drilling offshore or that climate change is real. You've just got to be willing to give and take."

Graham's desire to trade energy provisions for his support on a major climate bill has won him audiences with leading Senate Democrats and the Obama administration. And while few of his fellow Republicans are willing to make such a leap, Graham is.

And that is why he landed Sunday on a very public stage -- The New York Times op-ed page -- publishing an article about possible legislative compromises with Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who has taken his party's lead in negotiations on the climate bill.

The two lawmakers signaled where there is room to negotiate on hot-button issues like nuclear power and domestic offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. And they pledged to form a partnership that has longtime advocates for climate legislation thinking they have found a missing ingredient in the search for crossing the 60-vote threshold needed to defeat a Senate filibuster.

"I know him well enough to know when he's kind of watching something and when he's begun to commit to make a difference here," said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who has taken a leading role with Graham in negotiations on nuclear power. "And he's committed now on this. I don't mean he's signed on, but he wants to find a way. And if he's involved, I think he'll reassure others."

"Frankly," Lieberman added, "He may not only reassure and bring on Republicans. But he may reassure some moderate Democrats."

Traveling with McCain

Graham's conversion to a potential Democratic ally on climate change has been taking place quietly for several years.

In 2003 and again in 2005, Graham voted against Senate climate legislation authored by two of his closest friends in the chamber: Lieberman and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Last summer, Graham sided with Republican leaders against moving ahead on a climate bill from Lieberman and then-Sen. John Warner (R-Va.).

But Graham has also taken steps in the other direction, placing him among a handful of moderate Republicans that E&E (pdf) counts as on the fence when looking at a possible path to 60 votes.

In 2006, Graham cosponsored a bill with Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) that would have set mandatory limits on several traditional air pollutants and carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. And before the 2008 presidential primaries, Graham said South Carolina voters were concerned about global warming because of its effect on hunting and recreational opportunities.

"I can't imagine a nominee for either major party arguing to the public that climate change is not real and man is not contributing to it," he said in February 2007. "If they take that position, the public is going to really question their judgment."

Graham credits his entry into the climate debate in large part to McCain, whose one-time energy aide, Matt Rimkunas, has worked for Graham since 2005. The two lawmakers have made trips together to see first hand the effects of climate change at the North Pole, in Norway and Alaska.